VAGN HOLMBOE (1909-1996): Chamber Symphonies No. 1, Op. 53, No. 2, Op. 100 "Elegy" and No. 3, Op. 103a "Frieze".

Description: As time goes on, we become aware that Holmboe wrote a bewilderingly wide variety of orchestral works: symphonies, sinfonias, chamber concertos, Preludes for Sinfonietta, Symphonic Metamorphoses and concertos. Now we get the world premiere recordings of his three chamber symphonies, the first of which comes from the same date as his Symphony No. 8 (1951) and the second from the year before the Symphony No. 9 (1968) with the third following in 1969-70. Using his characteristic "metamorphosis" technique, they demonstrate his preoccupation with the processes of nature and the idea of those processes transferred to music. The most powerful and dramatic is the Second, the longest at 29 minutes and an intense work of struggle, anger and grief which is probably directly related to the upheavals involved in his resigning his teaching position a few years previously after a confrontation with his avant-garde-inclined students Per Nørgård and Ib Nørholm. Needless to say, a must-buy for all of you who value this titan of 20th century Danish music. Lapland Chamber Orchestra; John Storgårds.